These guys show you how to make an atlatl. It is a primitive technology used to throw a huge dart, not really a spear, fast enough that it would go through Spaniards armor. It wasn’t heavy enough to go all the way through. The tip kept it from being pulled out, and the armor kept it from being driven through. The Conquistadors were pinned in their armor waiting to bleed to death.

A simple dart-throwing stick with a handle on one end and spur (male end) or socket (female end) on the other end. The dart, a flexible spear, mates with the spur/socket when thrown. Typically about two feet long, an atlatl employs leverage to extend the arm’s length to propel a dart further and with more velocity than when thrown using only the arm. — Survival Sherpa

It is a simple piece of primitive gear but it harnesses energy in many ways that a hand thrown javelin or spear never could. The leverage from the atlatl itself multiplies the speed of the dart. The flexible dart also releases energy when it straightens out and flies. Together it is an amazing tool set that was used by many civilizations around the world. Tips were used from sting ray spines to stone arrowheads to create as much damage as possible.
Check out more about making an atlatl and darts on this great website.

Lot’s of parents believe that playing video games is a bad practice for children, especially violent video games. We have been told it makes kids aggressive and violent but society today has less violent crime per capita than it did in the 80’s and 90’s when violent video games started.

We heard boys describe failure in school as taboo, and failure in a game as desirable. We heard boys describe facile ways of dividing up leadership and recognizing one another’s expertise in the most collaborative and generative of ways — which also happens to be the key to a diverse workplace.

Turns out that video games teach kids how to overcome frustration. They learn patience trying to figure out games, as well as persistence. Many online games like Call of Duty also teaches leadership and teamwork as well as strategy.

We reject games because they’re violent, individualistic, competitive, engrossing and largely foreign to us as teachers, parents, leaders, adults. And these are the precise characteristics of boys that we reject when we enforce zero tolerance policies.

Video games certainly can have their downfalls but letting little Jimmy play Medal of Honor isn’t likely to turn him into a mass murderer or a psychopath. Children, especially boys, are violent in nature. Early childhood before video games should have gotten them on the path to controlling their anger and rage and putting it into a constructive form.

This man has no concern for his dental health or the safety of his lips, but he loves his corn with plenty of sauce. Where someone would get an idea to do something like this who knows but as the saying goes, kids don’t try this at home. Especially if you like to keep your lips attached to your face.

Carp bait can be made with wheaties, onion salt, and garlic powder. Put wheaties in a handcloth, two handfuls, then pour on onion salt about 3 tablespoons, then 3 tablespoons of garlic powder. Pull up the four corners of the cloth and twist to enclose the mixture.

Dip it in the water to wet it, then knead the wheaties inside the cloth. Use your fingers to squeeze the flakes together and mix the powder to make a consistent dough. If it is too dry and you need more liquid get more water by redipping. To removed excess water squeeze out by tightening the cloth. Dough should hold on hook well and be rubbery and malleable.

Cover the entire hook and knot with a ball of dough. Carp have a sensitive mouth and you want them to feel as little of your tackle as possible.

We are pleased to announce our first catered outdoor get together. Bring your appetite and bring a friend for this delicious delectable palate pleasing good time. You will surely enjoys these tasty treats.

Each treat is made with care and the best natural ingredients available. Each roll is lovingly hand smoothed and cut to perfection. It’s so good you can’t resist another one.

May. 05Food, UncategorizedComments Off on Got a Booger? Pick it! Then Eat it to Boost Immunity!

Sitting down at your favorite restaurant you peer over the seat just in time to see a youngster pick his nose and quickly eat it. Disgusting you think, just when I’m about to eat this kid slurps a big juicy booger. Maybe, just maybe, you should take a cue from this booger eating brat.

“From an evolutionary perspective, we evolved under very dirty conditions and maybe this desire to keep our environment and our behaviors sterile isn’t actually working to our advantage,” Napper told the CBC.

Supposedly in the new thinking your body is making tasty boogers so your immune system knows whats going on. In more recent times there are more food allergies and similar maladies for higher income families

Napper told the CBC this theory may fit in with other evolutionary theories that suggest people’s improved hygiene over the years has led to increases in allergies and immune diseases.

The so-called “hygiene hypothesis” is a theory that early exposure to germs and certain infections could boost the development of the immune system, according to Dr. James T.C. Li of the Mayo Clinic.

Children who grow up in rural parts of the country and are around animals seem to be less likely to develop asthma than other children, Li added, though he said the hygiene hypothesis may be too simple of an explanation for this effect.

Recent studies suggest the hypothesis may explain whyfood allergies are more common in families with higher incomes compared to those with lower ones, and why U.S. born children are more likely to have allergic diseases like hay fever and eczema compared with foreign-born children.

Maybe not washing your hands and eating boogers is just what the doctor ordered? It makes sense, your body is bombarded with sterility from childhood as much as your parents or babysitter could. Those kids that live on farms or don’t have someone telling them not to eat boogers seem to benefit from it so it cant be all that bad. Eat a booger!

Read the entire story by following the links at the end of each chapter or simply click the tag Houseboat Boys and they will all show up. Edited from original text to make the story easier to read by todays understandings.

The Houseboat Boys
by Allyn Draper

There were five of them.And they all belonged to the great house of Barnes and Co. of the City of New York.They were all bright, plucky, active and lucky drummers, who had done splendid work for the house during the season just past.The head of the house had just told them that , as a recognition of their good work, they were to have the entire summer to themselves on full pay.Of course they were happy.There were jubilant, for on full pay for three months with freedom to go where they wished they could have no end of fun and adventure.Tom Owens and Joe Smith walked arm in arm to their boarding house when they left the store, congratulating each other on their good fortune.

“We never got but two weeks before,” remarked Tom.

“No, nor did we ever do so much business before.I tell you man, we have employers who appreciate good work.”

“That is so.I am going to do my best to earn three months off again next summer.”

“So will I.But where shall we go this summer?That’s the most important question just now.”

“Yes.Well, I don’t know.I have not made up my mind where I shall go.But I am going to make the most of it, you may depend on that”

“Ditto,man.I am going to do my best to get the worth of my ninety days’ time out of it.”

Ben Allen, Arthur Beam, and Charlie Swayne were the other three lucky drummers.They were all mere youths, none of them being over twenty one years of age except Tom Owens who was twenty two.Swayne was only nineteen but his work on the road had been as effective as the best of them.Barnes and Co believed in the ambition and enthusiasm of youth, and backed up their belief in a very practical way.Ben Allen and Tom Owens were cousins, and it was through Tom Owens that Ben secured his position with the house.Yet, strange to say, they were not good friends.Tom had discovered a lack of good principe in his cousin which had caused him to regret that he had introduced him to the house.

Ben’s father was a brother of Tom’s mother.The two families had lost sight of each other for years.Allen moved West when Ben was a small boy, and when Ben came to New York he reported to Tom that his mother was dead- and his father traveling.Both of Tom’s parent were dead, and he had been supporting himself since he was sixteen years of age.Somehow or other he never could get Ben to tell him anything about his father or family, though he was extremely anxious to learn all he could about them.The other drummers of the house- and there were nearly a score of them- had noticed his reticence in regard to himself and his family.All of them frequently spoke in endearing terms of their parents, brothers, and sisters.But not a word from Ben.A day or two later Joe Smith said to Tom, and they walked home together.

“The boys are arranging to go off together to spend the summer, and they are counting on us to go with them.”

“Where are they going?”

“Somewhere up on Lake Superior, I believe.”

“Who proposed it?”

“Your cousin Ben.”

“Then I won’t go.ben and I can’t get along amicably together somehow.”

“Oh pshaw!We can’t go without you, Tom.There’ll be enough of us for you if you and Ben can’t agree.”

“What is the plan laid out?”

“Why, it is this:Ben was traveling for the house out there last year, you know, and at Mackinaw he saw a boat which he thinks would be the very thing for us to spend the summer in, and, to tell you the truth, I think so too.”

“Something int eh shape of a houseboat?”

“Yes, a boat of very light draft, forty feet long by twelve wide on which is built a house of three rooms with a front and rear piazza to it, fitted up with all the conveniences of a cottage.It is run by a small electric engine, and is also lighted by electricity.”

“Well, that is an odd sort of a boat, I must say.Who owns it?”

“Ben says that a rich old fellow had it built for his own use, intending to take a party of friends up some of the many rivers which empty into Lake Superior from the North.But the rheumatism struck him just as it was finished, and it has been lying idle ever since.It can be bought or hired for the summer very cheap, Ben thinks, and if it can I think it would be the best thing we could do.It draws less than two feet of water, which will enable us to go hundreds of miles up into the northern wilds of Canada where no tourists have ever been, for the country above Lake Nipigon is almost a wild unexplored country.”

“I would like very much to go, Joe,”said Tom, “but I don’t care to go with a party of which Ben Allen is a member.

Joe could not move him, and the next day he told the others, except Allen, why Tom would not go.By accident Ben heard of it, though he did not say anything about it.Charlie Swayne and Arthur Beam added their persuasive powers to the pressure that was brought to bear on the tall, good looking young drummer, and finally he was persuaded to give his consent to go.Ben telegraphed to Griggs, one of his customers in Mackinaw, to see if the houseboat he had seen there the year before could be hired furnished for the summer for a party of five on a vacation cruise and on what terms.Quite late in the day the reply came that it could be hired, and the terms were so reasonable that a telegram was sent asking Griggs to secure it for the party, who would take possession on the second day of June.That matter being attended to, the party of five made preparations for the summer’s trip.Some bought rifles and some shotguns, while no end of fishing tackle was bought up.Ben Allen, as the one who had suggested the excursion and pushed it through, was the busiest one of the party during the ten days left them.

The morning of the first day of June came, and the party of five made their way to the depot to take a west bound train.Quite a party of their friends had assembled to see them off.There was quite a noisy time there when the train moved out.Two days later they arrived at the city of Machinaw.Mr. Griggs, the merchant, et them at the train and conducted them to the boat which he had secured for them.Ben introduced the party to the merchant, who in turn introduced the party to the merchant, who in turn introduced them to the pilot and steward of the houseboat.The pilot was French Canadian, who was a fine electrician and one of the best guides in the Northwest.The steward was a great big caterer who understood his business thoroughly.

“I am glad to be able to say you, you gentlemen” said Griggs, after the introductions had been made, “that no better pilot than Pierre Lacombe can be found in the lake region, not a better steward than Scipio.We all call him Scip.I’ve known them both for years, and if anything is lost through any fault of theirs you may charge it up to me.”

“That’s recommendation enough, I am sure,” remarked Tom, as he looked at the two men.“Who is to be our captain?”

“Oh, you must elect one of your own party to that position,” said the merchant.

Ben Allen sounded three of the party as to their choice of captain, and found that they were big in favor of Tom Owens, his cousin.

“I think it unjust to me,” he said to them, “because I got up this excursion and —”

“Oh, you are too hot headed to be captain,” said Joe to him.“Besides, you know, Tom wouldn’t go if you were captain.”

Ben said no more.But in the evening he went on shore and made his way along the water front till me met a tall man in a cloak in the gateway of a lumber yard.the man in the cloak coughed slightly and Ben turned to him quickly, saying: “Father!”

“Ben!” replied the man, grasping his hand.

They retired behind a huge pile of lumber where the man in the cloak, who was no other than Ben’s father, asked:

“Did they all come?”

“Yes, and are on board the boat,” Ben replied.

“When do you start, and where do you go?”

“We may start tomorrow afternoon, or the next morning.We have got to buy our supplies tomorrow.I don’t know where we shall go, but think well go up the Nepigon river to the lake and beyond.”

“Who is to be in charge of the boat?”

“They have secured a French Canadian of the name Lacombe to be pilot, and Tome will be the captain.”

“Tom Owens!Why don’t you be captain?”

“Because they all want Tom.”

“Well that makes it bad for us, but we can work it all the same.You can learn how to run the electric engine if you work the pilot right.Just as soon as you’ve mastered it, we’ll throw ‘em into the lake and take the boat.Once in our hands we can do our work without hindrance, and move from one locality to another without danger of discovery.”

“Where will me meet you?” Ben asked.

“Up on Nepigon Lake.We have a rendezvous up there.Tom won’t know me, and you and I will meet as strangers.”

The next day the steward and Joe Smith made out a list of what supplies would be needed for a three months’ cruise, and by noon they were purchased and delivered on board.Then they elected Tom Owens captain- even Ben Allen voting for him when he saw that he was to be the choice, and signed the agreement to obey orders.Everything being thus arranged, Tom gave the order to start.The pilot pressed a knob in the circular board on the wall of the front room, near the window, and held to a small wheel to guide by, and the houseboat moved gracefully away from her mooring, where she had rested so long.She turned eastward to make for the Sault Ste. Marie, through which they would have to go to get into Lake Superior.

The houseboat was not very fast, making only about ten miles an hour, which was fast enough for them, however.They reached the narrows and went through it my moonlight, the party sitting in rocking chairs and smoking cigars.A big lake steamer came along, and the boys hailed it with cheers, which were answered by the steamers’ crew.Ben was seated in his chair, leaning back, with his feet on another.The rollers made by the steamer caused the boat to make a plunge, and ere, he could recover his balance he and the chair went overboard.

“Man overboard!” yelled Joe.

crip, the steward, had just stepped out on the rear deck, when he heard the alarm.In another moment the chair was almost at his feet in the water.He reached down and grabbed it.Ben had hold of it, too, and in a flash he was drawn up on the deck.

“Good for you, steward,” he said to Scip.“I’d have been left but for you.”

“What for you falling in the water, sir?” scip asked.

“Handed if I know.Ugh!The water is confoundedly cold.”

Ben went to bed.The others soon followed his example, leaving the pilot in charge, who ran into a small cove near the shore when they had passed through the narrows, and dropped anchor til morning.They were all up with the sun the next morning, and started off for a whole days’ run along within sight of the shore.it took them three days to make Nipigon Bay, into which the Nepigon River pours its waters.Night came on as they were crossing the bay, and Ben lit up the great electric lamp on the roof of the forward part.As soon as it was dark, for the moon did not rise till ten o’clock, the ducks began to strike the light, blinded by it’s glare.Whack! came a big duck with the force of a cannon ball, and hit him on the left side of the head, knocking him into the water as neatly as a pugilist could have done it.Charlie happened to be out there and saw the accident.The duck fell dead at his feet as Ben went overboard.

“Great Scott!Stop the boat!” he yelled, and the next moment he went over after him.

The others came running out an looked around.They could not see either of them.

“Throw us a line!” cried Charlie from the water in the rear.

He had found Ben insensible and was trying to hold his head above the water as best he could till help could reach him.

“Lower the rowboat!” cried the pilot, and in a flash Scipio, the steward, had dropped the rowboat into the water and leaped into it himself.

A few strokes of the oars brought him to them.He dropped the oars and lifted Ben into the boat, leaning Charlie to climb in.Ben was bleeding from the nose and ears from the effect of the blow, and was still unconscious when he was taken on board the houseboat.

“How did it happen?” Tom asked, as he looked at Charlie.

“He stood up on the stool to place the screen over the light, when a duck struck him on the side of the head and knocked him into the water,” and Charlie went to the front and found the duck lying there on the floor.

“Here it is,” he said.

Ben came to after a while, and wondered what had happened to him.He was told, and then realized that Charlie Swayne had really saved his life.Dry clothes were placed on him , and he was lifted to his berth to sleep off the effects of the blow.When he awoke the next morning the houseboat was anchored at the mouth of the Nepigon river.He had a “head on him,” and no mistake.The left side of his head and face was swelled and discolored to a marked degree.

“I am the unlucky one of the party,” he said to the pilot, as he surveyed himself in the mirror on the wall of the room.

“It seems so,” admitted the pilot, “or else you have a penchant for falling into the water.”

The day was spent winding along up the channel, and later in the afternoon they entered Lake Nepigon, a magnificent sheet of water seventy miles long by fifty wide, with many beautiful islands scattered about in it.

“What a splendid body of water!” cried Charlie, as he gazed over the lake toward several little islands.

“Just the place to start out for a little hunt to see what we can scare up.”

“I think we better go over to yonder white beach and make fast to a stake in the sand,” said the pilot, and they made for that point.

The bow of the houseboat soon struck the white sandy beach, and the pilot sprang ashore and proceeded to drive a stake deep down into the sand, to which he tied the boat.Next day Tom asked Scip to place an armchair out on the beach under the shade of a tree for him, and he took a book and went there to read.All had left the boat for their hunt on shore save Scrip.Tom had been reading about two hours when he heard something behind him.He was just going to look around to see what it was when the great hairy arms of a black bear encircled him and the chair, accompanied by a growl.He yelled:

“Help! Help! Scip! Oh, mercy!”

The bear held him in the chair, but the chair saved him from having his ribs crushed.Tom struggled hard to get away and the bear struggled harder to hold him.In the struggle the chair was overturned and all rolled on the sand together.The bear released his hold to get a better one, perhaps, when he saw Scrip coming with a carving knife in his hand.He rose on his hind feet to receive him.

“Go away there!Shoo!” yelled Scrip, who appeared to be more anxious to see him run away than attack him.

“Kill him, Scip!” cried Tom, getting on his feet.

The bear made for Tom, and Scip rushed up and gave him about ten inches of cold steel between the ribs.Then with a fierce growl, bruin turned on the steward and tried to hug him in his rib-crushing arms.The last thrust touched him in a vital spot, and the effect was instantaneous.He turned and tried to make his escape to the woods, but fell dead ere he had made two paces.

“Whoop!That bears my meat!” cried Scip, in great glee, for he had not received a single scratch.As for Tom, he had been worse scared than hurt.

When the others came back a few hours later they were surprised to see a dead bear on the beach.It was a species of game that each had been wanting to lay claim to as the first to secure it, and now the steward had won the prize.Joe went on board and sat down to write in his notebook whilst the others were washing up after the hunt.He was in the habit of doing so, hence no one thought anything of it at the time.But when he had finished writing he tore out the leaf and put it in his pocket.When he got the chance to do so he slipped it into Tom’s hand, with the whispered injunction to:

“Read and say nothing.”

Tom was surprised, and when he found himself alone, he read what Joe had written.

“Whilst going through the woods I heard asignal,” he read, “and at once hid in a clump of bushes.I saw Ben Allen going in the direction of the signal, but don’t know that he heard it.But in a few minutes I saw him meet a tall man in hunter’s garb partly behind a tree, and shake hands with him.They exchanged a few words, and then parted.The man hurried away, and Ben seemed to be intent on getting a shot at a squirrel up in a tree.When I joined him I remarked that somebody had been there, and pointed to the tracks on the ground.‘No,’ he said, ‘those are my tracks, I guess.’I knew they were not, and he said nothing to me about having met anybody in the woods.What does it mean?”

Tom was dumbfounded.

“I can’t imagine what it means,” he said to himself as he crushed the paper in his hand.“I know that he is capable of any villainy, but can’t imagine how he can plotting any villainy away up here in the woods.Yet he has met and shaken hands with a man he knew up here.Did he know anybody up here before?He is a strange sort of a fellow and thoroughly dishonest.But who was the man?I must try to find out, though I’d never be able to get anyting out of him.But hereafter I shall order the houseboat to anchor in deep water every night so as to prevent any surprise of any kind.”

That evening he whispered to the pilot:

“Anchor out in deep water two hundred yards from shore for the night and keep watch till midnight.I”ll relieve you then.”

The pilot was surprised and asked:

“Is anything wrong?”

“Yes,” said Tom.“But don’t say a word.”

The move was made much to the surprise of the others.

“Why, what’s this for?” Joe asked.

“We have been anchored here to the shore al the time.” replied Tom, “and bears, wildcats, or robbers could have come aboard without any trouble.”

That night about one o’clock a party of men, six in number, armed to the teeth, came softly through the woods to the beach where the houseboat had been anchored.

“By all that’s holy!” gasped the leader in low tones.“They have moved out from the shore.”

“We might get our boats and go out to them,” suggested one of the six.

“And every man of us get shot down.They suspect something, and would have a watch set.There are five Winchesters on board that craft.”

“Then our game is up.”

“Yes, for tonight, at least.”

A few muttered curses escaped them, and they turned away into the deep black shadow of the woods again.They marched in a single file for some distance, and then a dark lantern was produced by one of them, who led the way for a mile or so to a camp in the deep recesses of the woods.

“Well, what’s t be done now?” one of the men asked as he sat down under a rude shelter which had been made of cut bushes.

“Well, the first thing is to find out what caused them to move out to deep water.I can find out all about it when I see the boy again.”

“But when can you see him?”

“I guess he’ll come ashore some time tomorrow.He says that they have nearly a thousand dollars cash between them, and that the furniture and supplies on board are wroth another thousand, and the boat itself would bring at least $5,000.We’ve got to get this boat, as we can’t find any hiding place in the States now where we can do out work with any degree of safety.”

The men seemed, to all intents and purposes, to be a party of hunters up there in the woods for the game to be found there.But they were, in fact, a band of counterfeiters, and Ben Allen’s father was the head of the gang.

They rolled in their blankets under the temporary shelter which had been erected near the fire, and courted sleep for the rest of the night.Let us know return to the houseboat and note occurrences there the next morning after the discovery made by Joe in the woods.When they were seated at the breakfast table the next morning, Ben Allen proposed that they go out on a bear hunt that day.

“Where shall we go?” Charlie Swayne asked.

“Why in the woods out there.Bears go in pairs at this season of the year and the one Scip killed left a mate somewhere you may depend.”

They finally agreed to go on shore for a grand bear hunt.Only Tom would remain on board with Scip and the pilot.He was not feeling well enough yet to go out gunning.The houseboat moved up to the beach again and let Ben, Charlie, and Arthur go ashore with their rifles.Tom had whispered to Joe to keep an eye on Ben.Out in the woods Ben proposed that they scatter and beat about till the bear should be flushed.A yell would bring the others to the spot.Joe, however, instead of beating about for bear kept an eye on Ben Allen, and dodged about the bushes to keep Ben from seeing him.By that means he kept him in sight, but lost sight of Charlie and Arthur.The two latter went deep into the woods, and hunted about in quest of bear, believing that one was lurking about somewhere in the vicinity.Suddenly they saw a fine buck bounding by, as if excited over something.They both leveled their guns at him and fired.The buck fell in his tracks and the two boys gave a shout triumph over their good luck.Running forward to see the prize, they both remembered Tom’s experience with one of the species, and to make sure that he could do no mischief they each gave him another bullet in his head.

“That settles him!” cried Charlie.

“Hey!Why did you shoot our deer?” asked an Indian, stepping out of a clump of bushes with a smoking rifle in his hand.

They were both taken aback by his sudden and unexpected appearance.But Charlie was a game boy, so he answered:

“He is our deer.We both shot him.”

“Hmm!It’s our deer.You can’t have the deer,” said the Native.

“We are going to have have our share of him,” said Charlie in a determined sort of way.

“Yes,” said Arthur, “we have as much right to him as you have, and we think but just to divide him.”

“You’re a big liar,” said the Indian, giving a signal which was answered from the depths of the woods.

A minute or two later four other Indians appeared and attempted to surround the two boys.

“Halt!” cried Charlie, leveling his rifle at one of them.“Get back or I’ll fire!”

The Indians recoiled from before the Winchesters.But they were two to one, and the dark looks on their faces showed that they were not going to give up their claim to the deer.Indeed, it looked as if they were going to begin shooting when two strangers, looking like border hunters, came through the bushes.

“Hello!” exclaimed one of them, as if greatly astonished at the situation.“What’s the matter?Say lower your arms, partners, and don’t go to shooting, or there won’t be anyone else let in this region in a week.They’ll kill us all.What’s the trouble, anyhow?”

The Indians grunted, but made no answer.

“The trouble is this,” said Charlie, lowering his rifle.“My comrade and I shot this deer as he came by us.It seems that one of the Indians shot him, too, at the same time, from the other side, though we did not hear the report of his gun.We found a bullet wound on the side that was to him, however, and were willing to divide the deer with him, and -’

“That’s fair enough,” said the other stranger.

“Yes, but he claimed the whole carcass.I never saw an Indian before in my life, but am not afraid of all them in the woods.I am going to have my share of that deer or fight.”

“See here, friend,” said the hunter, going up to Charlie and speaking to him in low tones.“These natives are portions of old Spotted Tail’s tribe of Sioux who took refuge in Canada a few years ago when the boys in blue crowded them too close.They are putting up their winter’s supply of meat, so their hunting parties are scattered all over this section.To raise a row with them would cause the loss of our scalps.Let them have the carcass and you take the antlers as your share.”

Charlie thought he would do it as it would be a trophy- and he knew that the meat was not needed in the houseboat.

“Alright,” he said.“Tell ‘em to leave the horns.”

“That’s all right, Sioux,” said the hunter turning to the Indians, “the young hunter says you can have the meat if you will leave him the horns.”

“Yeah!He is wise,” said one of the Indians.

“Yes, he is wise and brave, too,” remarked the hunter.

The head was cut off and left on the ground for him.The Indians scowled at him and Arthur as they went away with the carcass.

Charlie then asked: “How long have you been here?”

“Some two or three weeks.How long have you been here?”

“About two weeks. There’s five of us, with pilot and steward to take care of our boat.We live on the boat, which is now on the lake.What luck have you had in hunting?”

“Best in the world- have shot more deer and bear this season then ever before.”

Just then they heard footsteps coming toward them, and a moment or two after Ben Allen and another hunter appeared.

Ben seemed utterly dumbfounded at seeing Charlie and Arthur there.

“I- I- I got lost!” he said, by way of explanation.

“The heck you did!” said Charlie

“Yes, and happened to meet this gentleman in the woods.He is showing me the way back to the lake.”

“Well, these two gentlemen have done us a good service, too,” said Charlie.“We were going to have a fight with four Indians when he interfered to prevent it,” and he then explained the whole affair to him.

“Where is Joe?” asked Ben looking around for him.

“We haven’t seen him since we separated up by the lake,” said Arthur.“We supposed he was with you.”

“I became separated from him soon after I left you.”

“He must have gone back to the boat if he did not get lost,” remarked Charlie.“I think we had better go back there, too,”and he took hold of the deer’s horns to take them along with him.

They were too heavy for him, and Arthur too helped to assist him.

“Let me carry your rifles for you,” said Ben, taking Charlie’s and Arthur’s guns, as if to carry them with his own.

“Thanks,” said Charlie.“We’ll get on very well now.”

“Let me have them,” said the tall hunter, taking them from Ben.

“Now hold up your hands!” cried one of the hunters in stern tones.

Charlie wheeled around and found that the rifles were leveled at himself and Arthur.Ben held up his hands, though no weapon was aimed at him, and cried out:

He held up his hands.So did Arthur.They were searched, robbed, and disarmed- all three.

“What does this mean?” Arthur asked.

The leader laughed and said “What do you think it means, young man?”

“I think it means you are a villainous set of cowardly robbers! blurted out Charlie.

“Hush Charlie!” said Ben.“We are in their power, and it does no good to provoke them.”

“Just let me get the chance, and I’ll give them provocation enough!” retorted Charlie.“It’s bad enough t be robbed of the deer by the Indians.That was bad enough, but to be thus robbed is more than I can forgive.”

“Well, don’t forgive us till we beg pardon,” said the tall leader of the gang.“But ifyou want to keep your head from being cracked you’d better keep a civil tongue”

Their hands were bound behind them, and then connected by one cord by which they were led through the woods a mile or two to a rude camp, where there were three hunters- or robbers as Charlie knew them to be.There they were told to sit down in a log if they wished to, and they did so.The three men at the camp were told what had been done, and then a whispered conversation took place among them.

“Yes,” said the leader.“We’ll go a little before dark.Dan can take care of them till we come back.”

Charlie heard the remark and looked at the man he heard them call by that name.He thought he saw some sort of a signal pass between him and Ben, but was not sure.By and by as the day waned he saw that they were making preparations to move from the camp.They took Ben and bound him more securely than before.

“See here, young man,” the leader said to him as he tied cords that bound his arms to his sides, “you are going with us, and if you try to escape or give us any trouble, we’ll fill you full of holes.”

They all left save Dan and the two prisoners.Ben was taken along as a prisoner, and in a few minutes they were out of sight and hearing of Charlie and Arthur.